Chapter 182: Changeling: Guilliman, You Cannot Repay Kindness with Enmity (Patreon)

Guilliman was numb all the way through. He still couldn't work out how things had come to this.

He was a Primarch, after all, and his experience was broad enough. And in these dozen-odd years of toil on Macragge, apart from putting the battered Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar back in order, he had spent the rest of his time learning the state of the Imperium over the last ten thousand years, and every enemy it faced.

The results gave him a headache, but they let him pin down each of those enemies.

They also taught him how to fight each one. The Ultramarines made up over seventy percent of all Astartes, so their combat experience and records were enormously rich. If the Black Templars had fought in every famous campaign, then the Ultramarines had shouldered the pressure of the entire Imperium, especially after the Horus Heresy first broke out.

Back then, the Ultramarines were the only ones who had kept their main forces intact. As for the Lion, he had crippled himself.

But even having seen every enemy there was, Guilliman had never imagined a situation like this one.

By the Emperor, what was he now? A Chaos Warmaster?

"Guilliman, you can't be this heartless!!!"

Just as Guilliman stood dazed, a Horror of Tzeentch screamed at him in the last instant before it entered the Warp.

Then the Horror dove into the Warp without so much as a backward glance, leaving a group of stunned Imperials behind.

"Holy shit, I was too naive. I should have knocked him out and smuggled him away instead of saying it out loud. And that's actually true?"

The Chapter Lord stared slack-jawed at the fleeing mass of Tzeentch things. As Heydrich's star student, he had been at Heydrich's side for a long time.

He knew what Heydrich liked to gripe about day to day, and that included plenty of Imperial jokes. Take the Tzeentch daemons in Holy Terra's Administratum, for instance. He had always assumed it was just a joke, like the Emperor jokes.

But who could have guessed it was true? The Administratum of Holy Terra really did have Tzeentch daemons.

"…"

Guilliman had obviously worked it out too. His whole worldview felt shattered, and his face darkened at the thought of the faces he would soon have to face. But there was clearly no way to avoid it now.

"Primarch Guilliman of the Imperium, return with me to Holy Terra at once. A war is being fought there right now."

The Custodes had no time to bother with those Tzeentch things either. Their Palace had plenty of such creatures.

Of course, that was not because they summoned Tzeentch daemons. The Custodes of the Imperium simply had to understand every kind of daemon.

So their Dark Cells held not only Tzeentch daemons but Greater Daemons of all four Powers. The situation was the same as before: Holy Terra hung by a thread and needed reinforcements fast.

As for the great host Guilliman had brought, it was a little blasphemous, but at least it could solve the immediate crisis.

"Let's go."

Guilliman could only sigh helplessly. This was no time to brood over such matters.

He had to go to the Imperium. He could not let Holy Terra fall. Above all, Khorne's hordes had already fought their way into the Palace. Fortunately, the Palace on Holy Terra covered the entire Tibetan Plateau.

The place was huge, and the Throne Room lay far from there. But if left unchecked, they would still reach the Throne Room.

Those wretches couldn't harm the Emperor, but it would be a monstrous humiliation all the same.

"Finally got through…"

Aboard Macragge's Honour, the Harlequin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. With so many Tzeentch daemons gone, and Magnus having buggered off, the corruption had eased considerably, and at last the tavern could be reached.

Heydrich had told him to give a shout once they reached the destination, since Holy Terra was, after all, this world's Earth.

Heydrich still wanted to go and take a look, though he figured there wasn't much to see.

But as a man of the Great East, he had that sentiment of being unable to part with his homeland. He knew this Holy Terra had nothing to do with his own Earth, but he still wanted to see it.

Of course, only he would go. Holy Terra was not yet part of Heydrich's plans.

…

So very soon…

"Guilliman has gone back to Holy Terra. Good… I'll go and fetch the Lion."

Heydrich fell into thought as he looked at the sweat-drenched Harlequin in front of him.

The tavern's transport capacity was poor, but it handled individual comings and goings easily. For him, returning to Holy Terra was a matter of an instant, and he had no worries about his own safety.

Heydrich had no intention of formally meeting the Imperium, but a quick visit was fine.

"He's returning to Holy Terra now, so this must be the Battle of the Lion's Gate."

During the Battle of the Lion's Gate, Khorne's power had stained even the Astronomican with a dark red glow. To Heydrich, the so-called Astronomican was just a big light bulb.

He looked at it whenever he had nothing better to do, so naturally he could see this.

Khorne's rampage did have an upside, though: Holy Terra had suffered enormous losses.

The administrative system was the hardest hit, but that was exactly why there was good news in it.

So many people had died that Guilliman could fill the vacated posts with his own people.

Still, going there himself wouldn't be much fun, so Heydrich decided to bring the Lion along. If the vermin of Holy Terra tried anything with Guilliman, they could just close the door and release the Lion.

Guilliman was a statesman, after all, and statesmen will often talk about anything.

The Lion was a different matter. This time, he could give that lot a little taste of Primarch shock.

"All right, let's go. Off to the Rock. I wonder if those little kitties have sorted themselves out yet."

With that thought, Heydrich stood up. As the tavern's owner, he knew the Lion's general movements well. The Lion's Forest Walk wasn't bad.

But in his present state, the Lion's control was limited. Teleporting was basically down to luck, or to the Emperor guiding him.

So if he wanted to enter specific worlds accurately, he still needed Heydrich's tavern. The Dark Angels were currently undergoing mass Primaris procedures and rapid replenishment of their ranks, so naturally the Lion hadn't left.

Besides, the Dark Angels had far too many messes to clean up. The Lion would probably be sorting them out for a long time.

Very soon Heydrich reached the Rock, and then…

"Hm, have I come at a bad time?"

When Heydrich arrived, he found himself looking at a scene that was hard to keep a straight face at: Azrael and Asmodai kneeling side by side on one knee, and behind them, a great crowd of… Fallen Angels.